Vikki moved into the Poole area around 25 years ago, settling in Broadstone where she still lives with her husband and family.

With no background in politics, Vikki’s route into local government began whilst she was running her catering and cafe business on Broadstone High Street. A self-described agitator, it was her campaigning for local small business issues through the Chamber of Trade which led to Vikki being invited to stand for the Council. Successful at her first attempt, she is now in her fourth term.

A mother of four children herself, Vikki is passionate about youth services. She is a volunteer youth leader, school governor and was a Young Enterprise mentor for seven years, taking on five apprentices within her own business.

Some of Vikki’s most rewarding achievements in her time as a Councillor have been in relation to homelessness, championing the plight of families trapped in temporary accommodation and working with them to find homes. She has called for a stronger policy on developers to secure affordable and social housing.

A committed environmental campaigner, Vikki has worked part time in Climate Communications for several years, and has campaigned locally around clean water, recycling, and renewable energy.

Councillor Lorna Fielker is the Leader of Southampton City Council, Cabinet Member for Health, Adults and Leisure and ward Councillor for Swaythling.

She has additional policy interests in community wealth building, housing and seeing public, private, and voluntary sectors cooperate to tackle inequalities.

Outside of politics, Cllr Fielker is a Postgraduate Researcher at the University of Southampton, where she is investigating the impact of the UK GDPR (2018) on voluntary organisations. She has a professional background working within social housing and voluntary settings.

Joanna works closely with developers, government and public sector teams and contractors dealing with all aspects of construction projects from project tender through the build phase, managing risk issues and resolving disputes by ADR, adjudication, mediation or litigation when required. She leads on construction issues within energy projects, wind, solar and AD, with broad expertise covering construction projects, construction disputes, infrastructure and regeneration.

Joanna works with government, local government, developers, contractors and social housing provider clients. Her strong client skills regularly see her acting as a trusted advisor to client boards where she is seen as an influencer and a safe pair of hands.

Conrad Ford is Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Allica Bank (www.allica.bank), recently named by Deloitte as the UK’s 3rd fastest-growing technology firm ever in its annual Fast 50 rankings.

Allica is reimagining banking for established SMEs with the latest technology, including a significant presence in commercial property lending. Previously Conrad was sole founder of Funding Options, an exited financial technology firm ranked by the FT as one of Europe’s fastest-growing firms.

Megan has worked in local government for the last 10 years across all directorates. Her most recent role was leading on an extensive regeneration programme for Portsmouth City Council. She recently decided to move to the private sector to learn how both public and private could help each other more, break down any barriers between the two sectors and look to strengthen partnership working.

Megan now works across various authorities providing project and programme management support with a particular emphasis on bringing stakeholders together, political engagement and team delivery helped by a deep understanding of these brilliant organisations. Megan also hosts a podcast called ‘Livin La Vida Local’ which brings to the forefront the voices of those working in, and with, local government.

Sophie is a Director of Arup’s Integrated City Planning.

A masterplanner and architect with over twenty years’ experience she leads the West Cities Market across planning, design, movement, and advisory services. As an experienced regeneration expert, she embeds a culture of sustainable design and collaboration into projects.

Sophie has a passion for delivering social value and inclusive growth through meaningful stakeholder engagement to create resilient outcomes for people and places. Her work involves creating outcomes that align with global agendas, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to deliver inclusive benefits for people and places.

Previous relevant projects include Tottenham Regeneation Strategy and Masterplans – London, Hendre Lakes station and commercial masterplan – Wales, Baglan Bay Development Framework.